Pune: “A village like Mahabaleshwar tops as the cleanliest village and at the same time there are few villages in Maharashtra which don’t even have toilets is a big contradiction. There are many government schemes but somehow some of them do not reach to the tribal villages. Lack of toilet facilities lead to poor hygiene, especially amongst women, girls and children. In these circumstances Finolex and Mukul Madhav Foundation have built 332 toilets. Their work is quite appreciable.” Said Dr. Kailas Shinde, Collector of Palghar District. He was talking during the inauguration ceremony of toilets built by Finolex and Mukul Madhav Foundation.
Finolex Industries and Mukul Madhav Foundation have been instrumental in constructing 332 individual toilets in collaboration with Yuva Parivartan and other like minded corporates. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact in health of households and communities. Finolex Industries and Mukul Madhav Foundation since June 2017 have been working closely in Palghar to create individual toilets to tribal villages in collaboration with Kherwadi Social Welfare Association’s (KSWA) Yuva Parivartan. These toilets are designed in an ecofriendly manner. Each individual toilet is provided with solar light. The toilets have name boards in the name of the lady of the household. In it’s fifth phase, 125 toilets and solar lamps were inaugurated in Sangenane village in Wada taluka. On this occasion, buckets, mugs and other cleaning material was given to villagers. Tahsildar Uddhav Kadam, Vice President of Finolex B.R. Mehta, Bablu Mokle, Mangesh Talekar, Prant officer Archana Kadam, Sarpanch Kanchan Sambhare, Talathi Shrikant Kumbhar, Police Patil Suresh Patil, Nikola Monterio, Bhagwan Kamble, Extension Officer Sandip Jadhav, Anil Patil were present on this occasion.
Foundation’s initiative of spreading awareness among tribal villagers is important. The maintenance and use of these toilets is satisfactional. Dr. Kailas Shinde appealed villagers to avoid open defecation and to use these toilets instead. While talking about this venture, Managing Trustee of Mukul Madhav Foundation, Ritu Chhabria said, “Finolex and Mukul Madhav Foundation have built more than 300 toilets. To benefit adivasis we have been working with like minded organisations. ZF Gears, Hinduja Layland Finance have been helping a lot. We are trying to educate people against open defecation.”
B.R. Mehta said, “Lack of hygiene causes many diseases. Which results into economical and psychological challenges rural citizents have to face. Acknowledging this fact Finolex and Mukul Madhav Foundation have started spreading awareness by building toilets. In five phases 332 toilets have been built, in sixth phase 127 more toilets will be built. Hence the total number of toilets will be 459.
